HEALTH POLITICS: The Ad Wars

Yesterday we told you about the tidal wave of health-related lobbying in DC. Today the AP's Alan Fram reports on the ad race. An estimated 47,000 TV ads costing $31 million have run so far. That's already double the insurance industry's 1993-94 "Harry and Louise" budget.

But unlike the early '90s, when the foes of reform carried the day and the wallets,  the ad money so far is more weighted toward reform. AP quoted Evan Tracey, president of  Campaign Media Analysis Group, saying that $15 million has been spent on ads backing the Democrats' overall approach to reform, $4 million opposing it, and another $12 million (much of it from PhRMA) on a general message about quality health care.

Other groups quoted in the story estimated the expenses so far as higher, but all agreed that the spending will be dwarfed by what we can expect in the next few months—about $250 million, Tracey estimated.

This article focused on television ads, but we sure see a lot of print ads in Congress-centric publications as well as online advertisements. But we probably don't see as many ads as moderate Democrats do...